Multinational

Background: The Orange-Senqu River Basin originates in the highlands of Lesotho and runs for over 2300 km to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia/South Africa. The river system is one of the largest river basins in Africa with a total catchment area of about 1.0 million km2 and encompasses all of the Lesotho, a significant portion of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The basin is of major economic importance to South Africa contributing 26% to South Africa’s GDP.

I. Origine et contexte du Projet
I.1 La Communauté Économique des États de l’Afrique Centrale (CEEAC), créée en octobre 1983 et son Secrétariat Général mis en place en janvier 1985, compte actuellement onze États membres à savoir : l’Angola, le Burundi, le Cameroun, la Centrafrique, le Congo, le Gabon, la Guinée- Equatoriale, la RD Congo, le Rwanda, le Sao Tome & Principe et le Tchad.

Origin of the Project

May 2011 – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) received a € 1.7 million grant to undertake a study to improve knowledge on navigable waterways of the Shire-Zambezi for their reopening. This joint action between Malawi and Mozambique will improve information exchange and promote joint project planning and investment. The reopening of the waterways could increase the volume of transport of goods, trade and the exchange of services.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

August 2011- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) received a € 411,000 grant for a study to establish a regional water observatory to contribute the improvement of water sector performance.  The observatory would help strengthen political will on common water management policy amongst ECOWAS member countries, and promote the convergence of national policy outlook and strategy framework to facilitate joint action on transboundary water resources management.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

May 2012 - The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO, the technical arm of the Nile Basin Initiative, received a € 2 million grant for a development study to support investment efforts to finance the Baro-Akobo-Sobat development programme. The region holds tremendous potential for the cooperative development of water resources, if enhanced, promises significant socio-economic impacts that can reduce poverty.

May 2007 - The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) has received a € 890,000 grant to support the creation of a Lake Chad Water Charter between the five riparian states, Cameroon, Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, ( Sudan) which will function as a political and legal instrument for equitable water sharing, common investments, and environmental management.

November 2009 – Water Operators Partnership (WOP) received a €490,000 grant to improve service to customers through more sustainable utility operations including better quality of service, financial performance, technical performance and coverage. Financial performance improvement shall aim at increasing operation cost coverage ratio and collection efficiency, while technical performance shall primarily focus on the reduction of water losses.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

December 2009 - the Nile Basin Initiative/NELSAP received a € 770,000 grant to reduce poverty and reverse environmental degradation in the Bugesera region, principally in the area surrounding the lakes Cyohoha and Rweru and the Akanyaru marshlands, through the development of Integrated Management and Development Plans for the Rweru and Cyohoha lakes and the Akanyaru marsh.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

January 2009 - The Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Gambie (OMVG) received €1.6 million grant to reinforce its capacities to implement sustainable management of shared water resources based on an IWRM approach. This entails building OMVG’s capacities through staff training, the rehabilitation and extension of its hydrological observation network, the establishment of a cooperation framework for the management of water resources. The project will also bring support for the development of irrigation in the basin area located in Guinea-Bissau.